"Exceptional story well told and lot to learn from."

The principle of BRAND DRIVEN PROGRESS is based on the conviction that the brand will drive the transformation of the company and accompany societal changes in a constructive and responsible manner. In short: It is all about value-oriented brand management. 

BRAND DRIVEN PROGRESS has recently been compiled in an elaborate book that addresses brand professionals and brand enthusiasts and aims to provide food for thought for their own work. In my opinion, these are some of the essential insights:

1. A study commissioned by HAVAS on "Meaningful brands" reveals that respondents would simply not care if three quarters of the brands simply disappeared from the market. But this is not because people do not want strong (in the sense of being relevant) brands, but because many brands do not live up to their intended task of playing a significant role in society. The role (or the purpose) of a company is based on an incontestable "truth" deeply rooted in society. Only then is it relevant and not trivial, constructed or imposed afterwards. This applies in particular to commodity markets. In the application case of Deutsche Telekom, it is the power of being connected and participating in socio-cultural, political and economic life with the help of digital means (based on the "truth" that relationships enrich our lives, because people feel more comfortable in the community). Social scientists are convinced that the homo collaborans, for whom participation is more important than possessions, is about to replace the homo economicus as a supposed model. 

2. The ability to operate digital applications is a cultural technique like reading and writing. Those who do not master them or do not have access to the possibilities of the digital world, sooner or later run the risk of becoming outsiders in the analog world. Digital participation is - across all industries - the social question of the present. The antipole to isolation is participation combined with optimism and self-efficacy. "Life is for sharing." (using the Deutsche Telekom brand slogan as an example) is a brand core of the highest relevance, especially in our polarizing times.

3. The goal is the goal, not the path: only what is outwardly effective can also make a necessary far-reaching change in the company visible. And that is the brand. In the Deutsche Telekom application case, their radically simplified realignment ("simplexity") - in terms of content and form - also had a positive effect on the corporate culture: away from silo thinking and towards an understanding of the company as a strong cross-divisional team including necessary restructuring. The brand has an impact on all areas of the company, and also defines the relationship with customers and the understanding of service: easy access, a clear product portfolio, a strong service organization in which people (still) make the decisive difference - despite the increased use of artificial intelligence. 

The interaction between company and brand could also be succinctly described as "the symbiotic perpetuum mobile": When a company purpose builds a brand builds a company purpose, etc.

4. Deutsche Telekom is not a “Lovebrand” - just like any other brand. It has been scientifically proven that the brain does not neuronally map relationships between people and objects as "love" relationships of any kind. For the brain, brands are objects and not people with any personality traits, as some brand positioning models like to propagate. In fact, affection for a brand is based on the degree of its subjective relevance, i.e. the fulfillment of individual, implicit goals. A strong brand relationship is one thing, love is something completely different.  

5. Neuroeconomic studies show that products that address "higher goals" beyond their basic functional utility and create added value in the form of a reward lead to more sales, higher prices and increased loyalty - and thus to greater profitability in the long term. The significance of the brand for a purchase decision is particularly great when supposedly rational purchase criteria cannot be verified or can only be partially verified. Even B2B customers are only human beings who follow their implicit goals. Information processing and reward mechanisms in the brain function in the same way as in B2C business, only the context is different. A trustworthy strong brand minimizes the risk of making decisions and gives the good feeling of making the right choice for one's own professional success.

6. A brand that is committed to digital equality of opportunities is also a self-imposed mission for better cooperation. TechForGood: farsighted, relevant, smart, safe, responsible, sustainable. In the case of Deutsche Telekom, it is about initiatives such as Coding4Kids, Code and Design Camp, Telekom@school, and Sea Hero Quest, the world's first mobile game to combat dementia with the aim of stopping or at least slowing down the progression of the disease so that people can continue to experience what connects them in the future. Before storytelling comes storydoing!

7. If the core of a brand is coherent and well defined, it can react flexibly to developments without shaking its foundations every time. A sustainable brand strategy ensures that the brand is accepted as a valuable companion in the process of change. Professional brand management is a matter of penetration, discipline and assertiveness. Unfortunately, over time, all too many brand strategies turn out to be unstable and fickle. (I am currently critical of Mercedes, for example: In my opinion, their new "luxury strategy" can hardly be reconciled with the rallying cry "grow up" for the activation of younger customers that was postulated only two years ago. In addition, I wonder whether, in times when people are increasingly concerned with responsible consumption, a mere higher positioning is the right strategic answer to the essential questions of the future.)

8. Industrial boundaries are becoming increasingly blurred, competitive environments are interwining. But the more "coopetition" prevails, the less exclusive influence brands have on customer touchpoints and the more flexible brand design must be. You have to find smart ways of differentiation in the brand appearance in order to remain visible and assignable, e.g. via a strong colour or sound code. 

9. Planning processes in marketing must be drastically shortened, rigid silos between brand, media and e-business must be overcome. But despite all the good intentions to promote the personal responsibility of employees, agile work structures come to nothing if they are not geared towards a formulated and committed result and if important decisions are then still made outside the structures. "Creative leadership" means defining and creating clear expectations and the conditions for creative excellence. Above all, it is important to better understand how people really tick, i.e. what they think and why they decide and act as they do: It is difficult to change consumer behaviour, but it is possible to anticipate it for your own purposes.

The book is available in bookshops under ISBN No. 978-3-9822018-1-8 or at https://book.telekom.com/order.